Sorbia guide

[DraxZy]

Hi guys! I am preaty much new in this game and i do not know much things , i had seen some tuttorials on youtube that helped a lot , so i want to play with Sorbia
with custom carracters , i am not interested in conquering i only want to survive as independent state , but eventually Poland and Moravia keep attacking me constanty , i tryed sending gifts to both rulers but it did not helped , if anyone would want to make me a guide or at least help me i will be really thankfull!

 

[Jaevelklein]

I posted this on reddit, so copying it here. Hope you can get something out of it. Note that it's vanilla ck2, without any DLC:s included. Disclaimer though: Below isn't about Sorbia in specific, but general guidelines.

Noob player:

• Game location. Ireland preferably, as it is very beginner friendly. Or Somewhere in Spain 1066.
  
  
• Play as Feudal and learn the mechanics surrounding that.
  
  
• Play as independent, not as a vassal.
  
  
• Understand how the ranking system works. Emperor - King - Duke / Petty King - Count/Earl. There's some other cultural names for the other parts of the world as well, such as Grand Prince, Sultan, Sheikh and Emir, but they are not important for now. I myself prefer starting as a Count and build my realm from the scratch, instead of having to start out with everybody wanting me dead. For this very reason Ireland is a good start, as it only has counties and a few small duchies.
  
  
• Nobles like prestige, the clergy likes piety and everybody likes gold.
  
  
• Mainly use the "realm" mode to select the land under your or your vassals control. There's many other options to view the map with as well, but they are for when you become a bit more experienced.
  
  
• Get married to someone.
  
  
• Get a lot of children to pass your dynasty on.
  
  
• Always marry your female daughters matrimonially so that their children will be of your dynasty. You will also get more people at your court this way. If you marry your daughters away, they will leave your court. And early on, especially when you are small, this is bad. The more people you have, the more people you have to choose from when handing out land / choosing your councilors.
  
  
• Learn how your council works. The best options for your Chancellor is to Fabricate claims so that you get a publicly accepted reason to declare war, for your Marshal it is to "Train Troops", For your Spymaster you can send him to culturally rich places like Constantinople to steal technology, for your Court Chaplain, send him to Rome to improve relations with the Pope and leave him there and for your Steward collect taxes. These options are the only ones you need to know for now.
  
  
• Never upset the Pope.
  
  
• Avoid Ambitious and Envious people especially, look for content and trusting ones when you give out land to your vassals.
  
  
• Your vassals are important, not your courtiers. You can see a green / red number on their portraits from -100 (red) to 0 (yellow) to 100 (green). It's how much they like you. If they hate you, they will provide you with less troops and more likely to plan rebellions against you. So prefer keeping your vassals happy over some mere courtiers, you don't need to bribe them at all.
  
  
• Try to avoid giving out land to Mayors and Bishops. They will become Republics, Merchant Republics or Theocracies. Controlling normal Feudal lords is better for beginners.

• If you need more people, you can invite people to court through the intrigue list. 25 prestige and gold for a commander, 25 piety for a clergyman and gold for a nobleman. If you give land to the holy man though [25 piety to invite], they won't become theocracies. They will still be feudal.

• Mayors, Bishops and Barons might seem huge at first. But really, they are just small frys. They can't join factions against you [getting into this later]. So don't worry about them hating you. But counts and above you should try to keep happy.

• Avoid breaching the total vassal size and the total demesne limit. You get penalties like less tax and less troops.

• Expand militarily through declaration of wars. You said you don't really want to war, but you somewhat have to. Kill or be killed. Or at least get big enough so that no one dares / can conquer you. You seem like a content guy, but remember that a lot of people are ambitious, arbitrary, envious or otherwise lack a moral compass.

• Hire mercenaries in your wars. But be aware, they cost a shit ton.

• You need to declare war before raising troops, so don't hire mercenaries first and then you can't declare any wars...
  
  
• Check the enemy you are attacking if he has any pacts, because if he has allies, he can call them out to war.
  
  
• Disable yourself from participating in wars and don't assign yourself as a commander... don't want to risk being killed, do you?

• If you die and your heir is still underage, you will be in a regency, which kinda sucks. Especially if the child is 0 years old. So try to have an adult heir before dying.

• Make sure you attack the liege, not the vassal, even if it's the vassal's land you are interested in. So if the vassal has 2 000 soldiers and their liege only has 400, you will be fighting against 400 only, not 2 000, not 2 400. Technically the AI can offer to join their liege's war (as they should to protect their territory), but they won't.
  
  
• Send gold to your vassals to make them like you.

• Learn the mechanics of your religion. You will most likely play as Catholic. You can hover your mouse over the cross and you will get information about your religion.

• Your tech points from stolen technology and other parts: Only skill military organization [Military points], legalism and later majesty when emperor [Cultural points]. The rest are not important for now. In economical points you can skill whatever you want. I often max out my castles or my cities.

• Go with primogeniture succession law (your oldest son inherits) and if not, either seniority or ultimogeniture. Avoid gavelkind!
  
  
• Max out Crown Authority. Some would probably say to keep it on medium, but this is the best for noobs.
  
  
• Always be the guardian of your own heir. That way you can give him desired personality traits.

Average player:

• Build stuff in your counties and upgrade current buildings. I often prefer Mayors / cities in my own holdings since they provide good money.
  
  
• In addition to just building normal stuff, use the bigger province view to build i.e trade posts on important silk road stations.

• When you get your hands on minor holdings like cities, bishops and baronies, you can use the "create vassal" function [a random person is assigned there to rule over it]. You don't have to invite people to court to then give them stuff manually. This basically creates a "free character" from nothing.

• Press "Offer to join war" on the Pope's portrait to join his crusade. It took me ages to learn how to do that, lol. Then make sure you assign yourself as commander for that "Crusader" trait. You don't need to fight, you can just set foot in the holy land and then disable yourself from fighting. Then do the same with your heir and other characters.
  
  
• Experiment with playing Tribal and learn the mechanics associated with that if you feel like it.
  
  
• Try playing as a Vassal and not just independent.
  
  
• Start mastering the "invite to court" in the character list function to have efficient councilors and commanders. You also inherit the gold and treasures of roaming courtiers once they die.
  
  
• Use the minor title (inside the council bar) and hand it out to vassals to keep them happy. Also assign your own commanders by looking not only at their Martial skills, but also at their combat modifiers.
  
  
• Learn the other options of your council (they got 3 skills each).
  
  
• Get a better understanding of stats (Diplomacy, Martial, Stewardship, Intrigue and Learning). Diplomacy makes people like you more and allows you to have more vassals, Martial increases your levy size and your skills as a commander, Stewardship increases tax and the amount of land / demesne you yourself can hold without vassals (so I often tend to go for high stats in this), intrigue increases plot power and defense against plots and learning increases cultural advancements mainly.

• ^Below 10 points is poor, 15 is decent and 20+ is good.

• Get a better understanding of personality traits and how it affects the stats and actions of characters.
  
  
• Try different Christian groups like the Orthodox and the Miaphysite.
  
  
• Learn different map modes [realm, above] like "dynasty" map mode or "religion" map mode and check them out from time to time.
  
  
• Play in slightly more difficult starts like Italy or Sardinia and Corscia while still a Catholic. Not that hard though, but a bit more challenging.
  
  
• Set up anti-popes when necessary.
  
  
• Form non-aggression pacts and alliances. You can abuse alliances by answering the call to war [he will be happy] but then not sending a single soldier.
  
  
• Try heretical groups like the Cathar and Fraticelli (avoid Lollard and Waldenesian)
  
  
• Plot to kill people.
  
  
• Cancel plots against you.
  
  
• Keep an eye on factions, they are dangerous!
  
  
• Try to breed genetic traits like genius, quick strong and attractive into your family.
  
  
• Learn how the shipyard system works when you go to war over seas. Took me a while to figure out that stacking ships together [4, 3, 4, 7, 5] in one county wasn't enough, you had to make them one unit.
  
  
• Start checking the pre-game rules for your own custom settings. I.e defensive pacts off.

Adept players:

• Learn the mechanics of your culture. Special buildings and mechanics like raiding unique only to you.
  
  
• Marry for claims as well and not only for stats.
  
  
• Participate in succession wars instead of only military wars.
  
  
• Try exotic groups like the Nestorians and other harder game starts.
  
  
• Start role playing more instead of just expanding / playing for survival.

• Start to consider more how warfare works. Penalty from crossing rivers, weakened forces in mountain terrains, attrition from running out of supplies and so on.
  
  
• Care more about spreading your dynasty rather than just your realm. You can do both, but consider giving land to your kinsmen as well instead of just random courtiers.

Well, this is the list for now. Just ask me if there's something you want me to clarify more or if there's any other questions you have.